The latest outlook by the province’s electricity system operator means Ontarians will pay even more to export their surplus power to Quebec and the United States, PC Energy Critic and Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli said today.

“The vicious circle of us paying others to take our power so they can compete even harder with Ontario for jobs and investment will only continue,” said Fedeli.

Today, the Independent Electricity System Operator released its 18-month demand outlook. It says Ontario can expect to see increased “frequency and amount” of surplus baseload generation over that period. One of the key factors it cites is “growing volumes of variable generation.”

“Dalton McGuinty continues to force heavily subsidized intermittent wind and solar power onto the grid that we simply do not need,” said Fedeli.

“The result is we sell our more expensive surplus power at a loss to our neighbours because it can’t be stored. We lost $1.8 billion over the past six years exporting our energy,” added Fedeli.

“This is just one of several reasons why we need an immediate moratorium on any further wind development in Ontario.”

Dalton McGuinty needs to immediately change course on his flawed energy policy by cancelling the expensive Feed-In-Tariff (FIT) subsidies and pursue clean, reliable power at a price Ontario families and businesses can afford, Fedeli concluded.